DTCI: Want to stop the lawyer jokes? Change the perception

The late, great comedian Phil Hartman played a character named Keyrock, the Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer, in “Saturday Night Live” sketches in the early 1990s. Hartman wore a wig and makeup to look like a caveman, but he wore a fancy suit and a gold watch, and he knew his way around a modern courtroom. More important to the joke, he knew how to talk to juries.

Keyrock was slick — credit Hartman’s delivery here — and he played up his unique background to make his points. I’m paraphrasing here, but it usually went something like this: “I’m just a caveman. I fell into some ice and your scientists thawed me out. I don’t know much about your world, but I do know that my client deserves $2 million.” The jury wouldn’t even need to deliberate. Keyrock always won. It was comic genius.